Drug Topics Voices 03-10-2015

It ain’t necessarily so

Re: “Not too many pharmacy schools? Your responses” [Mark Lowery, Feb. 20, drugtopics.com]:

Most of my colleagues in pharmacy education agree that there are already too many schools. Unfortunately, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the organization that purportedly represents the interests of pharmacy education and educators, steadfastly refuses to address - or even discuss - the need for better supply/demand planning in pharmacy education. 

Why? Because they are benefiting from the bubble.

Inevitably, of course, the bubble will burst, programs will close and faculty will lose their jobs. Following this painful industry shakeout, equilibrium will eventually be restored and life will go on, albeit with fewer players. 

In the interim, AACP is benefiting from the dues paid by the new schools and their faculty, so they, like Dean Jordan, will continue insisting the problem doesn’t exist. Socrates said, “Men prefer to believe what they prefer to be true.” Thus it has always been.

Anonymous
posted at drugtopics.com

Only a matter of time

Thank you for publicizing the commentary of actual practicing pharmacists. Too often, media portrays pharmacy as a field in rapid demand due to”aging baby boomers” and “increased script demands.” There is also a disconnect between academia and the real-life world of pharmacy.

Furthermore, this rapid expansion of pharmacy education absolutely dilutes the quality of the field - more often than not leaving preceptors looking quizzically on the work ethic and judgment of these incoming “professionals.”

During my experience as a preceptor over the last three years, I have honestly seen some of my students run the pharmacy down, showing poor judgment and poor communications to both patient and physician, scrambling scripts and orders, and most disgusting of all, chatting away on their iPhones during busy hours. I have attempted to fail these students with evaluations describing their behavior, only to find out that the students’ schools have reversed my decision, passing them and allowing them to become licensed after they passed an exam that is gameable.

It is only a matter of time before this field mirrors the decline taking place in other parts of the world.

Anonymous
posted at drugtopics.com

Duty to warn

As a practicing pharmacist for the past 14 years, I have seen both the highs and the lows in this field. Trust me when I say that we are not even close to reaching our low point. I have gone around to different career counselors in high schools and colleges, warning them that this field is no longer the one portrayed by CNN.com. Unfortunately, the best and brightest will no longer pursue pharmacy. Pharmacy has an expiration date, due to the quality of graduating students coupled with automation and white collar demands.

My daughter was about to follow in my footsteps as a pharmacist. Instead, she made the brave choice to attend medical school at the University of
Miami, with aspirations of pursuing emergency medicine.

I hope you all encourage your children to stay away from these new pharmacy schools, which have turned everything into a joke.

Anonymous
posted at drugtopics.com

Double jeopardy

As usual, academia is thinking only of the bottom line and $$ in their pockets! Law schools did the same thing, opening too many law schools and producing a glut of now unemployed attorneys. (By the way I am a lawyer and a pharmacist). Schools are motivated by greed and federal dollars, not altruism and the good of their students. What a sorry lot!

Texas JD
posted at drugtopics.com

To see more reader comments on “Too many pharmacy schools?” and “Not too many pharmacy schools?” go to drugtopics.com.

Correction: Table 2 of the February CPE article erroneously listed the liraglutide dose as “0.6-1.8 mg weekly.” It should be “0.6-1.8 mg daily.” Drug Topics regrets the error.